(public speaking) Meet Barack Obama's first lady (The New Zealand Herald)

Michelle Obama, 44, has been nothing short of a firecracker on the campaign trail n passionate, eloquent, outspoken, funny, tender and utterly authentic. She gets audiences excited, emotional, even teary as she talks about her personal journey, her family's struggles and triumphs, her dreams for her own children n daughters Malia, nine, and Sasha, six n and everyone else's. American politics is still a culture of deep division and fear, especially over race, and Mrs Obama's unapologetic presentation of herself as a product of Chicago's rough-and-ready South Side is likely to scare her detractors every bit as much as it will impassion her supporters. While her husband has the unique ability to make himself and his audiences colour-blind, Michelle is unambiguously a black woman from the 'hood - albeit a brilliant one who broke out to go to Princeton and to Harvard Law School. read more

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